Panda Hero
by North of the North
Summary: Mathew is his cities underworld baseball hero. unapproachable by everyone except for those willing to pay for his services. However, before he knows what's happened, he has caught the eye of an American that wants to know him better.
1. Chapter 1

'Yet another cloudy day outside, it's all the same old sight, gray skies as always here.' Mathew sighed at the sight of the world outside of the broken building he was hiding out in and turned away from the window.

The sky sickened him now. It didn't used to. He was used to the wide expanses of the Canadian prairies and their skies. He was used to living skies not this bleak, dreary, unending clouds covering up the sky. But, he had left home a while ago. And the skies were never the same as before he left again. The sky outside this dilapidated building didn't seem to live at all; it was just there, taking up the space that the land wasn't already occupying.

He hated it. He hated this whole place, really. It definitely had not been his choice to live here, not in the slightest.

It was all that man's fault. It was his fault; Mathew knew for sure that he hadn't done anything wrong. That man hadn't needed to have reacted in that way. And Mathew knew he would never forgive him.

He had decided to tell his dad he was gay, he wanted to let him know, maybe even have some support. Instead his Step-dad just joined the ranks of those who had bullied Mathew throughout his life. He had told his Step-Dad he was gay and had been yelled at. He had been told to pack his bags and leave his home.

He had had to leave B.C. catching a ferry off of the island he lived on and going onto the mainland of British Columbia. He had lived there for a while before moving down to the States. There had been no message from home, no plea to come back and so Mathew had wandered around, doing odd jobs for people and couch surfing whenever he could.

It was on one day when he was randomly wandering around when he saw that there was a baseball match going on in the park by him. It seemed to be an unfair team, with the bigger team filled with bigger boys laughing at the others. Mathew had never liked those kinds of people, so he went to help them. He may have come from a country faithful to the sport of hockey but, the one thing he had always been good at growing up was hockey. He joined the losing team, with him there they won. Again and again the other team challenged him and he won every time.

He became known as the ace every team wanted. He was on the outskirts of the city and so it was gangs that eventually came to him. They would pay him in whatever he wanted to play for them. One of them even got Mathew hooked onto drugs so that they knew he would always be there. He helped them win their little rivalries and best of all; he was the best at it. He became a fixture on the playing field of the area.

He even gained a name for himself as the "Panda Hero". His favorite animal had been the polar bear before but, the people around him hadn't known that, they named him the panda hero after his white and black hoodie he always wore now turning gray from its continual usage. He was named after the rings around his eyes from his inability to sleep properly, he was probably even named after a panda because of how quiet and small he was. They said he resembled a baby panda at times. He was shy, quiet, cute, and harmless in the midst of the violence around him. His favorite animal changed to the panda.

Mathew had been there in that area ever since that day when he was fifteen and was told to leave his home. He no longer cared for his life; he lived only for that game, never wanting more from himself or the world around him until one day when a blond haired young man his age had cornered him after a game wanting to talk to him, to know him better than as just the baseball prodigy he looked up to. So, Mathew had feinted a punch the man's way and when his blue eyes had widened in shock and his arms came up to block the obvious fake attack Mathew ran away as fast as he could. He didn't need anyone and no one needed him. But, the Blondie kept on coming back and Mathew kept on running away until he couldn't anymore. After two weeks of their little game of cat and mouse, his little violent trick had been seen through and his hand caught in the other guy's strong grip. Of course that was when his body had decided it had had enough of his abuse towards it and Mathew had fallen unconscious from his lack of food and sleep into the arms of the stranger that had been stalking him.


	2. Chapter 2

Mathew's eyes slowly opened up as he realized that he was lying on something soft, a bed maybe? Instead of the usual hard floor or dirty mattress that he was used to sleeping on. Despite how long he obviously must have slept he was still fighting to awaken from the unconsciousness that still threatened to engulf him in its folds again. It was nice and warm under the covers. He didn't want to move.

Becoming more aware of what was around him it appeared that he'd been tucked into a comfortable bed, one that he had never seen before. The sheets were pulled up to his chin, keeping him warm and cozy. He'd been tucked in tightly. Whoever had done this seemed to honestly care for him. Strange, no odd, a bit unusual even for him. No one had done that for Mathew in a very long time. No one had ever really cared about his comfort before. No one had ever even cared about him before, to state it plain enough. So, who had done this? Who was it that was caring for him? Most important, and probably the answer to his other questions too, who's house was he currently in?

Mathew's eyes had cleared away the blurriness that sleep usually brings by then, and his mind had grown clear, so he took his chance to look around better and understand his situation.

The room he was in appeared to be a guest bedroom. It was a nice room too. Well kept, clean, comfortable. There were paintings on the wall, a tan coloured thick carpet on the floor, and even a wooden antique style dresser adorned with dried flowers on its surface that lent the air a refreshing smell. There were even a few other small bits of furniture like the bed side table to his right that furnished the room.

The person whose house he was in was well off then. Most likely middle class considering the size of the room and the condition it was in.

There were no other clues inside of the room he was in besides what he could see from the bed that could be used to try to figure out the identity of his unknown benefactor from. Despite the mid-day sunlight steadily streaming in through the bright blue lacy curtained window, he was still left in the dark about who the person was. He couldn't even remember how he got here. As far as he could tell from his jumbled thoughts he was playing another baseball game when something happened and then he woke up here.

'I don't think I'm in danger though.' Mathew thought as he let his head fall back to continue to rest on the fluffy pillows. They were already trying to send him back to sleep, even though he just woke up. 'I don't really need to know who he or she is. It doesn't matter. I'm safe and I'm being taken care. I'm…safe. That thought just seems so weird. I really hope it turns out to be true. This is kind of weird though, isn't it? Shouldn't I be a least a bit more concerned? Shouldn't I be a bit more paranoid? Shouldn't I be trying my best to escape this place? Because, really, I don't know where this is, or even if it is safe to remain in here. I don't know. I don't really care. What is that word I'm trying to think of right now? Ah yes. I guess I'm feeling apathetic. Well, that's fine with me then. It's better to be feeling nothing than to be scared, or in fear of what is happening around me, or hurt and in pain of some kind. Yes, I definitely like this better. This is all perfectly fine with me, splendid even. I guess nothing really matters to me anymore, not even myself. But, I think I stopped caring about that long ago.'

Mathew gave a small snort at that and chuckled soundlessly for a bit.

'Yep, I'm just fine with this…because I really don't care what happens to me. I could die for all I care.'

And with that, Mathew's breath evened out as he fell asleep again and another night and day passed before he managed to wake up again, in the same room at almost the same time as before. He'd been asleep for almost four days by then.

But, he didn't know that, nor did he care. And no one else cared either for their little baseball playing Panda Hero. No one else that is, besides the person who's house he was in. No one cared about Mathew besides the blond blue eyed man struggling to make something at least slightly edible for Mathew to eat downstairs in his kitchen. No one cared for Mathew besides him.

Mathew didn't know that though, and he continued to think that he must just be burdening the owner of the house with his presence. He was doing anything but that. The owner wanted him there, because he was the one who'd brought him there, and was now carrying a plate of slightly burnt grilled cheese and a bowl of tomato soup up the stairs for him. The same person who was praying that Mathew would finally be awake after all this time of having to wait at his bedside and hope for him to wake up. He was the only one who had ever prayed that Mathew would live, and continue to stay in this world. That person's name is Alfred F. Jones.


	3. Chapter 3

Alfred carefully nudged open the door to his now occupied guest bedroom and slipped inside, immediately freezing once he looked around the room and noticed something. Something that had changed for the first time in four days. It almost seemed like a miracle to him. A wonderful miracle.

But, it was true, the Panda Hero he'd been worshiping in his mind for the past year was awake and sitting up in bed staring back at him...and probably wondering why he was gawking at him like a complete idiot.

But, he was awake. Which was good, it was great even. He was finally awake. This was almost too good to be true. He couldn't believe it. His Panda Hero was awake and best of all, alive. This day had already been made perfect for Alfred. Now, he could help him as much as he could. He could be a hero as well.

"Um, hi." Alfred said as he flashed a smile Mathew's way and carefully walked to his bedside table to place the food he'd brought up with him down.

"It's really nice to see you. Um, that's not really what I meant to say. Of course I've been able to see you, it's not lke you're a ghost or anything like that, right? I meant it's good to see you awake and not totally still like some vampire or something. Vampires are always much cooler than ghosts, always, am I right? Of course. Ha ha."

Alfred's laughter pettered off nervously as he smoothed his hands down the lengths of his jeans. He was sweating, from nervousness, which was so not cool. No hero would do that, and the one in front of him probably thought that he was a big loser now because of it! Shoot, this sucked. Now he couldn't make a great first impression, well second if you counted their actual first encounter four days ago, as his hero. This sucked mega rocks.

But, at least he was doing a bit better than before. At least now he knew the Panda Hero's real name is actually Mathew. Granted he had learned this little bit of information from riffling through his wallet from when it fell out of his pocket as he was carrying him up the stairs. But, he made up for that by washing all of his tattered and dirty clothes for him. So, no harm done there at all. In his mind, all was forgiven.

"Hello." Mathew said in an emotionless voice.

Great, he was right. Mathew was looking at him blankly, no expression on his face or in his voice at all. Mathew probably couldn't even see him, he seemed that interested in him. Yeah, his great plan to take care of him and make him see life as being such a great thing was going smoothly. He still had that lonely expression on his face, like he didn't care about life. Yep, his plan was working perfectly.

"Um, so my name is Alfred F. Jones. May I sit down here?" Alfred asked gesturing at a part of the bed by where Mathew was.

He nodded. "It's your bed."

"Great," Alfred said as he flashed his biggest smile at Mathew and sat down with a soft whump. The mattress sloping under his weight where he was sitting.

Now all he had to do was act all cool like he hadn't been looking through his clothes and pawing at the items in them. Because that hadn't been totally creepy."So, um, what is your name?"

Mathew still looked indifferent as he simply replied with his short answer, "Mathew."

Alfred's brilliant smile faltered for a split instant. He was still only getting one word answers from Mathew. They'd been talking for a while and yet nothing. They weren't progressing in the slightest. But, that was just fine. He could work with one word answers. Hell, he could work with nothing at all.

He was used to always being the only one talking. He had friends that would talk too, but for most of the time he was the one doing the talking and he was used to that. This shouldn't be bothering him now when he'd spent his whole life in the spotlight of others attention. This shouldn't be bothering him at all.

"Cool! So, uh, I guess I should explain why you're here huh? So, what happened is that I found you after your last game and you kind of collapsed. So I brought you back here to my house. And I really hope you don't mind that I had to take off your clothes because, well, they were kind of super dirty and gross and stuff and I actually had to wonder if you had ever even washed it before. Because it positively reeked. It was so **so **grody dude, like seriously. But, I guess you can have it back if you really want it, I guess. I wouldn't recommend wearing it like ever again though. But, you can totally have it back. Where did you get it anyways? It seemed like you really cared for the hoodie at least. It was the least muddied and it had the least amount of holes. I've also seen you wear it every single game that you've played for the past two years. But, it's not like I'm stalking you or anything like that! I just noticed the hoodie, yeah that's it. I just noticed it because it, uh, is really baggy and conceals your body. Ah, no, actually I didn't notice it for those reasons, I noticed it because it just seems so out of place, you know? You were always wearing it, even in the middle of summer when I for one thought that it was really hot out when I was just wearing a t-shirt. It just seemed so odd. Please don't be creeped out or anything like that because of my weird ramblings!" Alfrec said with the end of his little bout of talking being delivered in nearly a single breath.

Mathew just stared at him in shock for a while trying to process his fast spoken words before he burst into sudden laughter. His shoulders were shaking with mirth, and he was gasping to draw in breaths of air in between his giggles.

No! This was terrible. He was laughing at him. Wait a minute, he was laughing at him. This meant that he was amusing, that he was funny to Mathew, right? I've changed my opinion, This is fantastic. Mathew seemed to care enough about him to laugh like he'd said the funniest joke in the whole wide world to him.

It hadn't been funny for Alfred of course, he had had a heart attack like a dozen times during those few minutes that he had been trying to explain himself in. But, Mathew was laughing so that completely made up for all the panic he had felt. He was all good now.

"Why would I be creeped out? You took off my clothes for a fair enough reason. It's not like you took off my clothes to look at my body or anything like that." Mathew said still laughing to himself a bit as he tried to speak.

Well...no. He hadn't taken off his clothes to look at his body but, now that he'd mentioned it, seeing his form was a lovely side effect of their removal he did have to admit. And he hadn't looked at him for long! It wasn't like he had anything else to do at the time though and he may or may not have delayed just slightly in finding him some old clothes that kind of not really fit him alright enough that he could wear.

He did have a nice body though. It would probably be best if he didn't say that though, he might get hurt. He wouldn't let him know his thoughts then. Mathew would probably not take too kindly to knowing just how much Alfred had enjoyed seeing what his body looked like. God, even thinking that sounded way too creepy. No doubts about it, at the very least it would definetely scare Mathew away, that was for sure.

**I'm sorry I have such little patience with typing. I will be getting the next bit out soon. Please review or pm me what your thoughts are, it helps.**


	4. Chapter 4

There was a knock at the door suddenly. It jolted Alfred into action and out of his awkwardness. "You stay here. I'll go check it out."

Mathew nodded. "Okay." He said.

Alfred crept down the stairs and grabbed his baseball bat as he went. The bat was studded with nails from a joke his friends had done with him, he couldn't remember much beyond that though, due to the fact that he'd been drunk when it happened. And hey, it might be a little over the top to arm himself but, with Mathew here and Alfred himself not expecting any visitors to show up, it was better to be safe than sorry.

The silhouettes of two people showed through the glass portion of his door. He opened it up. Thugs, was his first thought. People from Mathew's old gang were here to get him.

"Hello?" he asked the two guys outside.

"Hi," One of them was smoking, the scent was thick, even though they had probably only been standing there for a minute or so. Alfred hated him upon sight. At least he had taken the smoldering stub out to talk. He would have hit him with his bat otherwise. Maybe. "Have you seen a really skinny guy with blond hair and weird ass eyes hanging around here? He's a friend of ours and we're...worried about him." The guy replaced his cigarette in his mouth and breathed out a plume of smoke before Alfred replied, taking his time and speaking slowly.

"I'm sorry but, I can't say that I have."

The thugs nodded. The one without a cigarette spoke this time, he was draped in chains. Such a stupid look. Alright, maybe he was acting a little bit prejudiced against them. He justified it. They were here for Mathew. They had been the ones to hook him on drugs. The drugs that had almost killed him. It was their fault. It was justified.

"Thanks for that. If you see him, tell us, okay?"

Alfred nodded, "Sure."

The two guys turned and walked back down Alfred's concrete pathway that was his trail across his yard up to his house. They turned onto the sidewalk, and immediately turned to go up to the door of the next house. They were doing this systematically.

Alfred shut the door, quickly slamming it and bolting all of the locks into place. The glass panes were a kind of fractured glass, he couldn't see out of them anymore. He didn't need to. They were going door to door looking for Mathew. He wouldn't be safe much longer. If he was to look at this realistically, how long could he really keep Mathew for? How could he possibly save his Panda Hero from the bad guys and give him a better life? This was hopeless, in a way.

"Alfred."

He could hear called down the stairs. Mathew's voice was still so weak. He wanted to reverse their positions. He wanted to be the hero now. Did he even have the right to interfere in his life though?

* * *

I have personally never seen a thug in my life. It was only at the end of grade eight that I even realized that people did drugs in Canada, or any other first world country. Where I live has been called a bubble by those that have traveled abroad. Apparently we are very sheltered. I still can't believe that people would intentionally hook others onto drugs or willingly hurt others. It's hard to ignore the evidence now though. The way that I figured out people did drugs in first world countries was by finding a used needle while doing a garbage clean up in the capital city of my province. My Scout leaders had just laughed when I asked if an ambulance had accidentally dropped it. Is it bad that it took me being four months away from high school to realize that?

If I get anything wrong in this story, please correct me.


End file.
